


The Prince of the Fire Nation

by HarrisonHolmes2014



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Prince of Egypt (1998)
Genre: (Let me know if I'm wrong), Aang Did Not Survive the Iceberg, Alternate Universe - Canon, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Earthbending & Earthbenders, Firebending & Firebenders, I think?, Inspired by YouTube videos, Light Korra References, Multi, Slightly Friendlier Azula, Song: River Lullaby (The Prince of Egypt), Until She Loses It Anyway, Waterbending & Waterbenders, Zuko as the Avatar (Sort of)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29966700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarrisonHolmes2014/pseuds/HarrisonHolmes2014
Summary: Zuko was raised in the Fire Nation royal family alongside his sister Azula. He has never known any life outside the palace, his family, or his homeland. But when two slaves claim that he is their brother, Zuko must face a destiny he never asked for.
Relationships: Azula/Original Male Character, Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Ozai/Ursa (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	1. The Avatar and the Deliverer

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Avatar AMV - The Plagues Zuko/Azula](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/774483) by BbClarinet3. 



> So I found a video (link below) on YouTube that sets Zuko and Azula against each other during the song "The Plagues" (The Prince of Egypt). I realized Zuko as Moses would be a really interesting storyline, and so the following experiment was born. The Prince of Egypt and Avatar: The Last Airbender are two of my favorite animated works, so I jumped at a chance to see if this works! 
> 
> I've not written for the ATLA fandom before, and had to take some creative liberties with a couple characters. So comments and suggestions are particularly welcome! I'd be particularly interested in ideas about retelling the POE story in the Avatar universe, in different ways (Katara and Sokka as Miriam and Aaron, Aang as Moses, and so on). 
> 
> P.S. Zutara is the main pairing here, but I also think Kataang is very cute, so Kataang shippers: I'm sorry, but please know I appreciate you too. :)

_Deliver us, hear O God  
Deliver us, Lord of all  
Remember us here in this burning sand  
Deliver us  
There's a land you promised us  
Deliver us to the promised land. ___

__

__

____________

The sun had always burned hottest and strongest in the Fire Nation, but today it seemed even worse than usual. It was the height of summer, the solstice nearing, and heat shimmered off the stone and tile of the Capital City. It had been a particularly windy summer as well as dry, so a light layer of dust coated buildings and hung chokingly in the air. Even the lake just outside the city was lower than normal.

The blistering heat, however, did not stop the bustling around the Capital City's most recent construction site. Fire Lord Ozai had commissioned a 120-foot statue of his grandfather Sozin, "to watch over our people as we continue his legacy of prosperity and might." Slaves from all three nations hauled massive hulks of black stone to the city from lava deposits near the Fire Sages' temple, and carved them into gigantic limbs, a torso, and a head. The pieces were to be attached with handmade mortar, allowing for more lifelike features than a single block of stone could give. It was to be a glorious structure that towered over the city. But the statue was behind schedule; as one of the project overseers would have put it, they kept losing slaves to it. Twice they had tried to winch the statue's completed torso into place on its gigantic legs, and twice it had fallen, ropes snapping and scaffolds shattering as it went. Even the Earthbending slaves, prisoners of war from rebellious Earth Kingdom towns, had failed to muscle the hardened lava block into position without assistance.

With frustration (and the Fire Lord's impatience) running high, extra cruelty toward the slaves had been ordered. Fifteen-hour days on little more than bread and water took a toll on their own, but each day at least four or five slaves succumbed to the burning heat and choking dust. Today, one of the victims was Kiyi, a five-year-old assigned to carry bags of sand to and from the mortar mixing site. As she hauled her fifth bag of the morning, its weight pressing down on her back, she tried to think of anything except how her throat felt covered in sand from the inside. But the only other thing she could think of was the overseers' almost chanted orders, following the rhythm of her feet: _Mud, sand, water, straw...Faster! ___

____

Her sandal caught on a sharp piece of stone, sending a searing pain through her foot. Kiyi yelped and fell to her knees, dropping the bag of sand, which spilled everywhere and puffed onto her clothes and hair. The wind picked up, whipping the sand off of Kiyi's maroon slave tunic, and the remaining sand began to swirl away in the breeze. _No, no, no!_ Panicking, she hastily shoveled small handfuls back into the bag, but there was too much sand and a long shadow fell over her. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the punishment. 

"Stupid child! That's the third sack you've dropped this week!" the overseer roared. Kiyi felt the air temperature rise and heard the roar of flame in his hand as the Firebender fought with his temper. She shuddered, keeping her head down so that he would not see the tears on her thin cheeks. But instead of burning her, he seized a chunk of her short brown hair and yanked hard, pulling her to her feet. He might as well have burned her, with the fiery sensation on her scalp. Kiyi couldn't help screaming in pain, but did her best not to struggle. Fighting only made things worse, she knew from seeing it. Slaves who fought back or spoke out of turn got the whip, or worse, the fire.

The overseer let go and shoved her toward the bag of sand. "Refill it and don't let me catch you dropping another one again!" he snapped, stalking away. Shaking, Kiyi returned to filling her small hands with sand, watching as the grains slipped through her fingers anyway. Her eyes swam with tears again, but she wiped them away. Her big brother Kuzon had always told her that being brave sometimes meant not letting others see they'd hurt you. He'd said, "If they see, it makes them happy, and it's better not to let them have that over us."

Another shadow fell over Kiyi and she flinched, but this time a kinder voice said, "Here, little one, let me help you." She looked up to see a woman with pretty, long black hair, though it looked more blonde at the moment because of the dust. She wore a tattered and faded Earth Kingdom slave uniform, a green tunic over standard issue black pants. She also had shoes and gloves with layers of iron around them. Kiyi knew that the iron kept the Earthbenders from connecting to the earth and using their power, and were only removed under close supervision from guards. The few Waterbenders that Kiyi had seen were similarly kept under control: they were only given small amounts of water to work with as their jobs demanded, and they had to be kept in their own building completely devoid of water and moisture. Although Kiyi had seen Water Tribe slaves, marked by their blue tunics, there weren't many who could bend. Kiyi had heard some of the adults saying it was because the Waterbenders' drinking rations were so closely guarded that they sometimes died of thirst on the job.

The Earthbender woman looked around to make sure no one was watching, then winked at Kiyi. "Hold open the bag." Kiyi obeyed, pulling the top of the sack off the ground. The Earthbender looked around again, and held up one hand and one foot for Kiyi to see. Kiyi gasped: she could see the woman's palm and the sole of her shoe underneath. She'd removed parts of the iron casing!

The woman made a blunt slicing motion through the air, directing her arm and hand at the sand, and moved her arm up while holding it stiffly. All of a sudden, the sand rose a few inches off the ground like a living thing. Or the stream of water Kiyi had once seen a Waterbender pulling out of a well for the day's work. As the woman pointed her hand at Kiyi's bag, palm up, the stream of sand shot into the sack as if it had never dropped. Kiyi looked up at the woman, and she couldn't help her mouth hanging open. The Earthbender laughed.

"Just don't tell the guards about my special gloves and shoes," she said.

"I won't. Thank you," Kiyi said, her voice hoarse from the dust.

"And remember: we have a reason not to give up." The Earthbender smiled and walked back toward the construction site in the distance.

Kiyi heaved the bag of sand onto her back again and set off in the same direction, a small shoot of hope in her chest. Of course: the Deliverer! She'd heard the rumors and the whispers since she was even smaller. Her mother Irena had first told her about the Deliverer, and she could still remember it...

____________

"The Firebenders have ruled over this land for as long as anyone alive can remember," Irena had said in front of their own small fire (made the hard way) one winter night. "They have enslaved even Fire Nation citizens, their own people, just because we can't Firebend. They think we're less important and weaker than them.

"But Kiyi, there was a time when it wasn't this way. Once, someone called the Avatar made sure nothing like this ever happened. The Avatar was master of all four elements, the only one in the world, and they made sure that all the nations respected each other and helped them stop fighting." She paused. "No one has seen the Avatar for a hundred years."

"Why not, Mama?" Kiyi had asked.

Irena had sighed and stoked the fire before answering. Her golden eyes, slightly sunken in her face from hunger and exhaustion, were sad. "No one knows, my love," she said. "The last Avatar was said to be an Airbender, but he or she disappeared and has never been heard from since. Most people assume they're dead, along with the rest of the Air Nomads.

"But before you get too sad, darling, there is some hope," Irena had said, smiling a little. "In the past few years or so, people have started to receive dream messages from the Spirit World. They all say the same thing: that one day, a man with half a face will free us all from slavery, return the people from the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe back to their homes, and lead the Fire Nation slaves to a new land. The Spirits call him the Deliverer, and so does everyone who believes in him."

A piece of wood fell in the fire, sending sparks fluttering across the hearth. Kuzon and her father Wan-Li had stirred briefly in their sleep, but neither awoke. Kiyi had kept her eyes fixed on her mother's face, half visible in the flickering firelight. "Do you believe in him, Mama?"

Irena had picked her up and started carrying her toward the little bed they shared. They had rubbed noses, and a smile appeared on Irena's face. "I do," she had said. "Your father and brother are not so sure. But I believe, and the thought of the Deliverer gives me the hope to go on each day. Just make sure that you do not speak of him near the guards. They don't like the thought that someone greater than them could be out there."

____________

Kiyi sighed a little at the memory. Her father was gone now; he had gotten sick early in the year with a cough that sent blood flying from his mouth. He had died while Irena was expecting another baby, and Kiyi felt sad that her father had never met him. But at least Kiyi, Irena, and Kuzon all still had each other, and Kiyi's baby brother had been added to their family too.

She found herself on the edge of the construction site, where the mortar mixing station stood. Kiyi dropped her bag of sand in the designated area, partway down a long line of men and women creating the mortar. The Earthbender at this station nodded in thanks and pulled the sand from her bag with his ungloved hand, watched closely by an overseer. It fell with a soft puff into the mud he already had in front of him, and he stirred it with the same hand and sent it down the line for water to be added next. _Mud, sand, water, straw... _Kiyi turned away to fetch another bag of sand, wondering if she would ever see the Deliverer herself.__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kiyi = Miriam  
> Kuzon = Aaron  
> Irena = Yocheved


	2. The Basket

_River, oh river, flow gently for me  
Such precious cargo you bear  
Do you know somewhere he can live free?  
River, deliver him there._

____________

Flames leapt and danced at the foot of the Fire Nation throne. Some of the Throne Room's intricacies could be seen in their light: thirty-foot-high red columns with gold bases, delicate gold-leaf fans and flames glinting on the brown ceiling. The faces of Fire Lord Ozai's council glowed warmly as they assembled beneath the throne for the day's discussion. But despite the roar of the fire, most of the room was cast in shadow, and filled with what most would probably describe as choking heat.

Ozai, seated on the throne behind the flames, did not feel the heat. On the contrary, it filled him with a thick, heavy wave of power every time he breathed in. It was not in a Firebender's nature, nor of anyone from the Fire Nation, to be concerned with high temperatures. Both he and the Fire Lady could withstand it easily. Today, however, it would not do for Ursa to hear what they were to decide. She would surely agree and see the necessity of it eventually, but all the same...she could be overly sensitive on the topic of children.

Ozai held up a hand for silence, and the councilmen turned their faces to him. "Welcome, my respected council members," he said regally, lowering the flames so that he could be heard. "Today we have come to discuss a matter of great importance to our nation. One might even say, it is a matter of life and death."

He paused, enjoying the dramatic effect. "As you all know, our population of slaves has grown quite large over the years. Our successes in the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe have raised the number substantially. However, there is a disadvantage to high slave numbers: they are growing too numerous. It is possible that they will rise against us, with the Earthbenders and Waterbenders as their strongest asset, should they become aware of their own numbers."

One or two of the councilmen stirred slightly, but otherwise they remained silent for a moment. Eventually one, a relatively new young captain (Zhao or Zhou, something like that) stated, "We also shouldn't forget why they are slaves in the first place. They have not been blessed with fire, the superior element. Anyone who doesn't Firebend, or doesn't bend at all, is inferior."

Zhao (Zhu?) certainly could get to the heart of a problem, which was why he was a council member (though the most junior). "You are correct," Ozai said. "I propose a simple solution to these problems: decrease the slaves' numbers."

"If I may ask, my Lord, how so?" said another councilman. "Decreasing our body of workers too much risks falling even further behind on our current projects."

Ozai smiled once again, a cold smile of cruel irony. If any of the council members had dared to show emotion before the Fire Lord, they would have shuddered. "I said nothing whatsoever about workers."

____________

In her home in the slave quarter, Kiyi felt someone shaking her awake. Groggily, she rubbed her eyes and sat up, the thin blanket falling to the floor. Her mother was not in bed beside her, but standing above her, holding Kiyi's little brother in her other arm. Zuko was still asleep, his head tucked against Irena's neck, but Irena was pale-faced and alert, her eyes frightened. It scared Kiyi too, to see her mother looking like that. In the distance, for some reason, Kiyi could hear screaming.

"Wake up, Kiyi," Irena said, unusually sharply. "I need you to help me with something important. Kuzon is already awake."

"Mama, what - " Kiyi's sentence was drowned out by a sudden roar, and a brilliant, terrifying orange light illuminated the whole house. The screams were louder now, and Kiyi could also hear the Firebenders yelling back over the din. She jumped at the flash and toppled out of bed, but her mother pulled her to her feet.

In the semidarkness, Kuzon came dashing forward, his black hair flying in an unkempt mess. He carried a basket Kiyi had seen their mother weaving a few months ago in his arms. "What's happening?" Kiyi asked, but Kuzon shushed her.

"Don't be too loud. The Firebenders are attacking," he said, opening the basket lid. He threw the bread and dried herbs inside it haphazardly onto the bed.

"Why - " Kiyi began again, but now she heard a sound that chilled her. Distantly, rising higher above the shrieks and yells, were the screams of babies. The sound awoke Zuko: he whimpered and started to cry, squeezing his eyes shut and screwing his face up.

"Shh, my darling," Irena soothed him. "Don't be scared, my son. I won't let them have you." She wrapped him tightly in two blankets, making it look as if he was just a package of food. Holding him in one arm, she dipped a brush into their inkwell by the front window, and wrote Zuko's name - one of the only things she could write, along with her own and Kiyi and Kuzon's names - on a scrap of paper. She tucked it into his blankets.

Irena pulled a dark red shawl around her head and stood tall, hiding Zuko close to her body underneath it. Turning to Kiyi, she said very seriously, "We need to get your brother away from here. Carry the basket, Kiyi.

"Both of you, swear to me that if the Firebenders see us, you will run. Run back home and wait for me; do not try to stay behind or help, and do not speak to anyone. Do you understand?"

Kuzon nodded, and in a small voice, Kiyi said, "Yes, Mama." She picked up the empty basket and followed her mother and brothers to the door. Carefully, Irena opened it and looked up and down their small alley. Quick as a cat deer, she raced into the night, and Kiyi and Kuzon followed.

____________

The night was alive with cries and bursts of flame. Irena darted toward the city limits, constantly changing direction, keeping to the dark and more deserted alleyways. Kiyi and Kuzon kept pace with her, ducking into the shadows as battalions of Firebenders thundered past. Slaves' houses were burning, spitting showers of sparks into the night sky, making the moon blaze red through the smoke. Kiyi saw the Firebenders marching quickly out of homes, dragging small children by their arms and feet, hauling babies as if they were sacks of potatoes. Twice she and Kuzon nearly ran out in front of the soldiers, but Irena pulled them back out of sight in time.

At last, panting, they ran over the edge of the Caldera. Kiyi glanced back, and the long-dormant Caldera looked as if it were erupting from the Firebenders' flames. The light was following them, but it seemed to be distant. Irena urged her children down the sides of the Caldera and around its base until, at last, they reached a small stream that flowed out of the Palace lake and down to the ocean. Kiyi set down the wicker basket at last, her arms aching. Somehow, Zuko was calm; he gurgled happily and smiled up at her from Irena's arms, and Kiyi couldn't help smiling back in spite of the terror.

Irena sighed and disentangled him from her shawl. Gently, she placed him in the basket and adjusted the blankets so that he was comfortable. He squirmed and whimpered a little again, and Irena briefly closed her eyes, her face blank. It was the same face she'd made when Kiyi's father had first coughed up the blood. She let Zuko hold one of her fingers in his small hand and began to sing in a shaking voice. The tune was an old folk song, but Kiyi had never heard the words before.

_"Hush now, my baby, be still now, don't cry / Sleep as you're rocked by the stream / Sleep and remember my last lullaby / So I'll be with you when you dream."_

It still being nighttime, Zuko quickly grew sleepy at the short song. His eyes drifted closed, and he slowly let go of Irena's finger as he yawned. Kiyi saw her mother crying as she put the basket lid over him. Irena stood, carrying the basket, and set it afloat in the stream. Kiyi started to cry too, but she kept her tears quiet for her mother's sake. The three of them stood on the bank, watching in silence as the slow-moving stream took Zuko away. The basket turned a bend in the stream, heading for the harbor and the Great Gates, and then he was gone.

"Come," Irena said quietly to Kuzon and Kiyi. She took each of their hands, tears still flowing down her face, and led them away. By the time they arrived home, the Firebenders were gone, but the night air was still ringing with the slaves' sobs and wails. Kiyi waited until her mother and brother had fallen back asleep, and then slipped back into the night. She knew from working along the banks that the little stream flowed into the ocean, but right underneath the Royal Palace dock. The basket had been much too big to get through the support beams. She would hide on the docks and see what happened to her little brother.

____________

The morning air hung heavy with smoke over the palace, and Fire Lady Ursa could see the burned houses in the slave quarter. She felt her heart grow heavy for them; they were living beings that needed shelter, after all. She wished that there was something she could do to better their current situation. She had plenty of ideas: extra rations, or fresh uniforms, or even a new construction project ordered on their homes. But of course, Ozai would never hear her out.

Ursa would just as soon not have slaves at all. As far as she could see, those who wielded fire to control, frighten, and punish were the inferior ones. Being a nonbender herself, she could very well have been captured in the raid on Hira'a (five years now, where had the time gone?) and sold as a slave had Ozai not taken a liking to her.

Another pang crossed her heart, and Ursa reminded herself not to think of Hira'a. She was the Fire Lady now, and the best she could do for her own and her loved ones' survival was to fill her new role. And Ozai's idea of a good Fire Lady and wife was a woman who obeyed and did not present her own ideas, or ask questions. The slave quarters' destruction was a perfect example. Ozai had said there was some trouble last night that was now resolved, but as usual, he did not respond when she pressed for details. Her thoughts on helping the slaves after the burning, and the idea that she'd even consider them human, would not be appreciated. It was frustrating beyond belief, but since Ozai was the one with the power here, there was little Ursa could do to change things.

Wanting to get away from the palace for a bit, she called the palanchine bearers and told them to take her to the harbor for her morning walk. The doctors had told Ursa to avoid polluted air after her third child was lost. Getting out of the smoky Caldera would be a good decision and provide distraction from her thoughts.

Down by the harbor, Ursa breathed deeply, enjoying the feel of the wind. She could feel it stirring her hair, even though the dark brown locks were carefully arranged as befit a royal lady. Idly she looked down at the gold bangles Ozai had given her upon their marriage, glinting in the morning sun. She hated them - the gaudy, heavy bands were not her style and felt more like handcuffs than anything - but she wore them in public to deter gossip. She sat in the palanchine across from the Royal Palace loading dock, out of the main thoroughfare, and listened to the fishermen shouting to each other as they unloaded the day's catch. But she heard something else above their din: a faint whimpering and wailing.

"Come with me," she said to her head lady's maid Ekira, who stood beside the palanchine. The two women followed the sounds out to the edge of the Royal Palace loading dock, ignoring the curious stares of fishermen at the neighboring docks. Ursa looked over the edge, and saw a woven wicker basket lodged between two of the support beams. The crying seemed to be coming from it.

She straightened up, and summoned one of the nearby fishermen. He bowed respectfully to her. "Could you please go into the water and fetch that basket up?" she asked, pointing at the noisy package. He climbed down a small iron ladder and scooped up the basket in one strong arm. Setting it down on the dock, he, Ursa, and Ekira bent over it as Ursa removed the lid.

A baby, perhaps four to six months old, was swaddled in tattered blankets inside the basket. One small fist waved in the air at them as he cried, probably from hunger; who knew how long he'd been there? As Ursa picked him up, his teary golden eyes fixed on her own, and she felt her heart flutter at the little boy's intense gaze. It was like looking at her own eyes in the mirror. A bit uncertain in her movements, she put him on her shoulder and patted his back until his cries faded. The fluttering feeling in her chest only grew, especially when the baby grabbed the tie of her betrothal necklace and began to play with it, giggling.

"Strange little fish you've caught there m'lady!" the fisherman chuckled. Ursa smiled, glad that the people were at least comfortable with one member of the royal family. He tipped his hat and said, "If you don't need anything else?"

"No. Thank you for your help, my good man," Ursa said. She nodded to Ekira, who handed him a silver coin for his trouble, and he walked off. Turning back to the baby, she saw something white poking out of the blankets. Carefully, she pulled it out: a small piece of paper with a name written on it. It was smudged from its time in the water, but still legible.

"Zuko," she read, trading glances with Ekira. The two women looked back at Zuko the foundling, who smiled broadly at them. Ursa felt as if a flame kindled in her chest every time she looked at him, but not Ozai's blazes of rage or destruction. No, this was kind fire: the fire that helped a person cook, kept them warm in the winter, and lit their way in the night. The practical part of her also recognized that it was very unlikely, after three lost babies of her own, that she would be able to give Ozai an heir...unless...

Fire Lady Ursa straightened up, coming to a decision, and held Zuko more securely in her arms. She smoothed his tuft of dark brown hair with one hand, and he giggled again at the sensation. Beckoning to Ekira, she returned to the palanchine, and the bearers gave her questioning looks as they saw the baby. Holding her head high, Ursa told her servants, "Come, let us return to the palace. I will show Ozai our new son and heir: Zuko."

Ekira smiled nervously, compelled to remind the Fire Lady of two very real possibilities. "And if my Lord protests this boy isn't of his blood? Or he doesn't display Firebending before his second birthday?"

"Then either way, Ozai can throw both his only heir and his wife over the Palace wall," Ursa said grimly. She settled into the palanchine and her expression softened as she looked down at Zuko, who was drowsing quietly now. "Let's go home." The palanchine bearers lifted them up and they were off to the Palace, Ekira walking beside them, her hands tucked into her red robes.

None of them noticed the little slave girl hiding behind baskets of fish nearby, watching them with the same golden eyes as the new prince. Kiyi gave a silent prayer of thanks that her brother was safe at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zuko = Moses  
> Ozai = Pharaoh Seti  
> Ursa = The Queen (I don't think she has a name in the movie). I gave this role to Ursa so she'd have a bigger part in the story.  
> 


End file.
